The DIY quadcopter scene is very technical and there are kits for new learners which let you pop the motors on, assemble the frame, the sort of stuff. Many are

The DIY quadcopter scene is very technical and there are kits for new learners which let you pop the motors on, assemble the frame, the sort of stuff. Many are no-solder, and if he enjoyed it, he could eventually learn and do very custom builds. My youngest (5) was able to put together a plug-n-play kit and was extremely happy with the result, though he has crashed it to death since and I'm waiting on replacement parts. I can't find the one we went with, but this is similar: https://ca.robotshop.com/products/airbit-2-programmable-drone-kit-w-2x-microbit https://ca.robotshop.com/products/airbit-2-programmable-dron... This one is arguably under-featured and over-priced, but gets the idea across!